Daystar Television Network, a Christian television network, is transitioning to full HD production capabilities with Ikegami HDTV cameras at its Dallas/Ft. Worth Metroplex production hub.

All original programming — including original shows such as “Joni,” “Celebration,” and “Check the Sound” — for the Daystar network will now be shot within the facility’s 10,000sq-ft Studio A and 3000sq-ft Studio B with six Ikegami HDK-79EXIII portable HD cameras and four Ikegami HDK-790EXIII studio HD cameras. The network has also selected additional HDL-45A multipurpose compact HD point-of-view (POV) box cameras and four HLM-1750 WR 17in HD/SD multiformat color LCD monitors.

Lane Trammell, production manager for Daystar, said they chose Ikegami after careful comparison of other products on the market and came to the conclusion that the Ikegami cameras produced a good picture overall — in terms of color, signal-to-noise ratio and low-light-level sensitivity.

“Our main studio cameras needed to power a teleprompter, see program return, allow operators to crop images in their viewfinders and utilize functions in the HD lenses,” he aid. “Ikegami cameras offer all of those options.”

All three camera models in use at Daystar share the same CCD sensor type and DSP, so camera matching is easy and fast. Also the same 200-series control panels can be assigned to any of the cameras with full remote control of all camera functions.